3.

10 Related Rates
..................................................................................................................

Today, we are going to look at an application of implicit differentiation. Related rate problems involve finding a rate
at which a quantity changes, by relating that quantity to another quantity whose rate of change is known. Related
rate problems are differentiated with respect to time. So, every variable, except t is differentiated implicitly. We
begin with a warm-up example.

ˆ Two rates that are related Given y = x2 + 3, find dy

dt
when x = 1, given dx
dt
= 2.

ˆ Square example: Each side of a square is increasing at a rate of 6 cm/s. At what rate is the area of the
square increasing when the area of the square is 16 cm2 ?

ˆ Volume The radius r and h of a right circular cylinder are related to the cylinder’s volume V by the formula
V = πr2 h.
dV dh
1. How is dt
related to dt
if r is constant?

dV dr
2. How is dt
related to dt
if h is constant?

dV dh dr
3. How is dt
related to dt
and dt
if neither r nor h is constant?

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ˆ More examples:

1. Ladder: A 13-ft ladder is leaning against a house

when its base starts to slide away. By the time the
base is 12 ft from the house, the base is moving at
the rate of 5 ft/sec.
(a) How fast is the top of the ladder sliding down
the wall then?

(b) At what rate is the area of the triangle formed by the ladder, wall, and ground changing then?

(c) At what rate is the angle between the ladder and the ground changing then?

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ˆ Math humor:

Dear Worker,

First, you endanger everybody on this crew by pulling

that ladder away from the wall at a constant veloc-
ity. And now you want help creating a mathematical
model for the consequences of your irresponsibility?
Here’s your consequence: You’re fired.

-Your foreman [Link] from- a- calculus-class/

ˆ Stickpeople: Two stickpeople start walking from the same point. One goes north at a rate of 4 m.p.h. and
the other east at a rate of 5 m.p.h. How fast is the distance between them changing after 8 hours?

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ˆ Dumping Gravel: Gravel is being dumped from a conveyor belt at a rate of 50 ft3 /min. It forms a pile in
the shape of a right circular cone whose base diameter and height are always the same. How fast is the height
of the pile increasing when the pile is 12 ft high?

ˆ Fish A fish is reeled in at a rate of 1 foot per second from a bridge 15 ft above the water. At what rate is the
angle between the line and the water changing when there is 25 ft of line out?

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 4.5 Indeterminate Forms and How to deal with them
..................................................................................................................

When we studied limits in Chapter 2, we kept running into limits of indeterminant forms. That is, when we tried
direct substitution, we got 00 or ∞
∞
. For example,

2(x2 − 1) 3x2 − 1
lim lim
x→−1 x+1 x→∞ 2x2 + 1

To evaluate these limits, we used algebraic manipulations to simplify the function. Consider

e2x − 1 (ex + 1)(ex − 1)

lim = lim = lim (ex + 1) = e0 + 1 = 1 + 1 = 2.
x→0 ex − 1 x→0 ex − 1 x→0

The problem is not all indeterminant forms can be evaluated by algebraic manipulations. For instance, no amount
e2x − 1
of simplification on lim will help us evaluate this limit. We need a new rule to deal with these issues.
x→0 x
ˆ Definition: The Seven Indeterminant Forms

LHR will allow us to evaluate the first two forms.

ˆ L’Hôpital’s Rule:
Let f and g be differentiable on (a, b) except possibly at c. Assume g ′ (x) ≠ 0 for all x ∈ (a, b), except
f (x) 0 ±∞
possibly at c. If lim is of the indeterminant form or then
x→c g(x) 0 ∞

ˆ Example 1: Evaluate each of the following limits.

sin(x) 5t4 − 4t2 − 1

(a) lim (b) lim
x→0 x t→1 10 − t − 9t3

ˆ Expectations on Notation: When working with limits where you will apply LHR, I expect your work to
indicate the following:
1. To use L’Hôpital’s Rule, you MUST make sure to check all the hypotheses are satistfied and state the
indeterminate form of the limit.
2. You must state when you invoke the Theorem. You can do this by simply writing LHR over the equals
sign.
3. (This also applies to one-sided limits and limits at infinity.)
4. There are derivatives involved, there is a fraction, but this usually does not require a quotient rule.

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 x3
ˆ Example 2: Evaluate the limit lim .
x→∞ ex

ˆ A comment on quotients:

OR

ˆ Example 3: Evalute the following limits. Note, you will need to rewrite them first.
√
1. lim e−x x
x→∞

2. lim+ x2 cot(x)
x→0

1 1
3. lim+ ( − 2)
x→0 x x

ˆ Note: Writing that a limit is “ 00 ” or “ ∞

∞
” is always wrong! These are not numbers, but indeterminate forms.

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ˆ The other forms 1∞ , 00 , and ∞0 arise from functions with variable base and variable exponent. For instance,

ˆ Example 5: Evaluate the following limits.

1 x
1. lim (1 + )
x→∞ x

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2. lim (1 + x)1/x
x→∞

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 4.7: Newton’s Method
..................................................................................................................

Newton’s Method is a application of derivatives that we can use for approximating solutions to equations. Sometimes
finding solutions to equations is easy. For instance, what is a solution to x + 1 = 0? Sometimes, it isn’t, i.e. what is
a solution to x3 − 111 = 0? Newton’s method is based on the assumption that the graph of f and the tangent line
at (x0 , f (x0 )) both cross the x-axis at about the same point. (Assuming that we started with a guess that x0 was a
root.)

Newton’s Method: If xn is an approximation of a solution of f (x) = 0 and if f ′ (xn ) ≠ 0 the next approximation
is given by,

Hint: Sometimes a graph of y = f (x) is useful to determine your initial guess of x0 .

Convergence of Newton’s method to roots

ˆ Newton’s method does not always converge ˆ If Newton’s method does converge, it converges to a
root. When Newton’s method converges to a root,
it may not be the root you have in mind.

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Exercise 1: Use Newton’s Method to find an approximate solution of x − 1 = tan−1 (x). Start with x0 = 1 & find x4 .

√
Exercise 2: Use Newton’s Method to approximate r = 3
111, which is the zero of the function f (x) = x3 − 111.

If we have time, remind me to show you a groovy shortcut on Maple.

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 3.11 Linearization
..................................................................................................................

The idea behind linear approximations is that we can use the tangent line to approximate the values of a function
near a certain point. You can do this, as linearization comes from tangent lines.
√
ˆ Example: Plot y = 1 + x and y = 1 + x2 on Maple and comment on the relationship between the curve and
its tangent line at x = 0.
ˆ Experiment:

Value of x near 0 Approximation True Value True value - approximation

√
0.2 1.2 ≈ 1 + 0.2
2
=
√
0.05 1.05 ≈ 1 + 0.05
2
=
√
0.005 1.005 ≈ 1 + 0.005
2
=

ˆ Develop formula: Let y = f (x) be a differentiable function at x = a. The equation of the tangent line to f at
(a, f (a)) is given by

●
Definition: If f is differentiable at x = a, then the approximating function

is the linearization of f (x) at x = a, where x = a is the center of the approximation.

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ˆ Example 1: Let f (x) = 1 + tan(x).

1. Find the linearization of f (x) centered at a = π/4.

2. Then estimate the quantities 1 + tan(.77) and 1 + tan(.79).
3. What happens if we aren’t close to the center?

ˆ Conclusion: As long as we are near x = a,

ˆ Example 2: Use an approximate local linear approximation to estimate the value of cos(29○ ).

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 3.11 Differentials

..................................................................................................................

Differentials are used to approximate the change of a function when x changes by a small amount.

Definition: Let y = f (x) be a differentiable function. We call dy and dx differentials and the relationship
between them is given by
ˆ dy = f ′ (x)dx.
Note that dx is an independent variable, and dy is a dependent variable.

ˆ Exercise: Compute the differentials of the following functions.

y = t3 − 4t2 + 7t w = x2 sin(2x)

ˆ Geometric meaning: We begin with a question. How does a small change in x (i.e. change from x = a to
x = a + ∆x) affect the function y = f (x)? Assume f ′ (a) exists.

Idea: When the tangent line to the graph at the point (a, f (a)) is used as an approximation to the graph of f , the
quantity
∆x = x − a is called the change in x
When ∆x is small, the change in y,
∆y = f (a + ∆x) − f (a)
can be approximated by f ′ (a)dx.

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